It might be part of some sports analysis software, but it can be done pretty easily in any NLE. It's just an overlay semi-transparent graphic, with rotating red dot. You can make one with alpha channel and re-use it as an overlay for any footage. You can hand track it , or use motion tracking so it "follows" the player of interest. You can scale it, rotate it in the x-axis (so it lies level with the ground plane), and you can adjust it so that it "fits" any camera angle or zoom

Though any NLE with a motion tracker can do it, I doubt if any will give a correct angle-of-tilt for that circle (or is that circle fixed at certain angle?)
I also suspect that it is some sort of specialized software as I have saw footage around the world showing similar thing.
Perhaps someone from the TV broadcast company should know it.

For shots like in his example from soccer, football (american football), hockey etc... the angle for the circle will usually be fixed per shot. When it switches to auxillary cameras, they might be in different positions , elevations, in the stadium - so the angle might change - but typically it will still be fixed for that scene (e.g. camera A's ground plane might be rotated 50 degress with respect to the x-axis; camera B might be 41 degress etc....)

Only in non traditional camera shoots, e.g. you might have an orbiting/ flying camera, 360 degrees shots - where the replay can rotate in all each x,y, z axis. That you would have to track more than simple x,y coordinates

Depends. Looks like the grass is painted. Or the water has something projected on it, etc.

Scott

I've never actually tried to do this kind of thing, but I have pondered it. I came to the conclusion that since the graphic has to be under the feet, and there's no way to make a layer between the feet and grass, that the graphic has to come from below the grass.

The $64,000 question is what composite mode(s) are required. I'm thinking it should be a mix designed to turn the grass the color they want where the graphic appears.

However, I notice the ring does not change color when passing over the white lines. So it's not a mix like I was thinking. So looks like what you say is true, it's some kind of screen or overlay from the back.

I also noticed the angle is not quite perfect. If you look at the white half-circles painted on the field, the arcs are slightly different.

That's got to be a tedious job. Some editor has to hurry up and slide a ring around on screen before the replay can run. Maybe they track it to the player, but what if the ball is stolen by the opposing team during the edit? You think there's a tracking beacon on their shirts? Or shoes?

Yeah, looks like a screen. The footage is screened against the graphic. Graphic is on lower track. Scott, I think you nailed it. My example graphic did not change color, nor did it change the color of the white line.

I've never actually tried to do this kind of thing, but I have pondered it. I came to the conclusion that since the graphic has to be under the feet, and there's no way to make a layer between the feet and grass, that the graphic has to come from below the grass.

I just had a quick look, but it seems to me like a simple overlay on top with opacity adjusted, no blend mode

The graphic "cuts" through the players' legs in some shots, so it's not "below" (ie. and there isn't 2 copies of the video, one rotoed on top, otherwise the legs would be intact)

Originally Posted by budwzr

Yeah, looks like a screen. The footage is screened against the graphic. Graphic is on lower track. Scott, I think you nailed it. My example graphic did not change color, nor did it change the color of the white line.

"Screen" blending mode with the graphic underneath would make the red dot disappear too much on lighter scenes, unless they made it uncessarily complicated with 2 overlays, one for the circle one for the red dot with different blending modes

The "colored blob" is a test image only. A colored gradient that I chose so I can see any anomalies. Note that it is opaque against the grass, but lets the white line through. Which is what the original circle does. Kapeesh?

Sensors were placed on the three main game cameras (at midfield and the two 20 yard lines), capturing the pan, tilt and zoom movements of those cameras 30 times a second. A three-dimensional, virtual model of each field had to be constructed, with the exact measurements of the crown of the field (the center of the field is always higher, for drainage, than the sides and ends, but the precise levels vary in each venue). An exhaustive color palette had to be produced on the fly as the game progressed

Yes, easy to do in AE, hitfilm , blender etc... but I'm thinking more traditional NLE might not be able to adjust it easily. (you can premake several versions your graphic at different angles to the ground plane, but that's a PITA not having complete control of it within the editor)

It's not the compositing that is hard here, it is the chromakeying & the tracking (which is why they needed to do all that pre-production work to make the perspective and key color swatches exact).

Still example via Photoshop from something I recently did (the shoot, not the graphic):

In the example, there are 3 layers.
1. Bottom is standard background layer
2. Middle is alpha graphic with 3D perspective applied and Overlay Blend mode used (~85% opacity)
3. Top is background layer but with floor/court/grass/base chromakeyed out

That looks great Scott. The floor has a minimum of two different colors, how did you manage to key both out at the same time and stay clean? Could you post a couple of seconds of motion scene to see it in action?

Budwzr I was just joking because the graphic shape looks like a puddle on the field. You would've had to drink a whole keg to make that....

Got my retirement plans all set. Looks like I only have to work another 5 years after I die........

Keying out 2 colors is not difficult, but the floor's color is close to skin color and that creates problem.
Tried the "Select>Color Range" in PS CS6 using the image above... I guess quite a bit of manual work is required to get the mask right

It's not all that clean if you look closely. Yes, this particular floor would be a pain to work with. I used ~6 passes adding colors to a garbage mask. The area around her right leg was the worst, contrast-wise. I just had this clip handy, and this was a proof of concept thing anyway.